The silver lining's dark cloud
by ihas no clue
Summary: After a rough storm, all anybody wants is to relax and enjoy the calm. Luckily for the Straw Hat pirates, the Grand Line likes to break the peace with a crash landing on deck.


The nine crewmembers of the Thousand Sunny were busy enjoying one of the nicest days that they've had in a while. Considering the unpredictability of the Grand Line, with the never-ending, torrential storms that left everyone but Luffy, Robin, and Chopper feeling seasick for the past week, it was a well-deserved break.

"Hooray, it's sunny today!" cried out Chopper as he jumped in the air.

"Indeed, my sacrifice to the sea god helped us out in our time of sickness," said Usopp striking a pose that nobody really saw. Zoro had even pulled out his weights to work out. Brook played a gentle tune that echoed across the ship's deck. Nami sighed as the sea breeze brushed against her face. She turned towards Robin, who sat in the shade with a book in hand.

"I checked the map, we didn't stray too far off from our course," Nami said as she sat down in the other chair. Robin looked up, a small smile on her face.

"It's nice to know that you still have your bearings, even with all that sea sickness," she stated.

Nami nodded her head. "Well, someone has to keep us on course. By the way, how's Luffy?"

The dark haired woman took a sip of her drink before answering the navigator's question. "He's alright. The Captain just tired himself out watching over everyone. Even when it was not his turn, he still kept watch. Chopper said he just needed some rest and Sanji is busy with the big meal that Captain will want when he wakes up."

"Well, at least they're having fun" Nami stated when both women turned their heads to watch Franky, Usopp, and Chopper dance to Brook's sudden shift in music. Although it was similar to watching two boats crash, Nami couldn't look away from the impressive flailing that the three of them had managed to call 'dancing'. Robin on the other hand had gone back to reading her book, the smile still on her face as she turned the page.

After the three dancers had finally tired themselves out, Usopp and Chopper collapsed onto Sunny's deck. Franky chuckled at them.

"Say, how about I go and get some drinks from Sanji? I'm sure he'd be able whip up something," he said, striking a pose.

"I think we might go for drinks," Chopper stated wearily while Usopp merely groaned.

"Super! I'll be back soon!' the cyborg stated as he went to the kitchen to find their cook. Usopp had managed to move his body into a sitting position while Chopper leaned against him.

"Phew, who knew that dancing was so tiring? I hope Franky gets back soon," he said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. Chopper only nodded as he took off his hat to fan himself a bit, tongue sticking out.

If the two had decided to look up at this time, they would have noticed something in the sky. The thing turned to be an odd-looking shape heading straight for the ship. The odd-looking shape would have crushed the unsuspecting pair if it had not been for Nami's sudden shout of "**LOOK OUT!"**

The duo looked up in time to move out of harm's way, Chopper jumping back while Usopp dived to his left. The two were in shock as the thing that crashed onto the now-ruined deck slowly stood on two legs. Its body had a gray beetle-like look to it, with no distinctive features.

"_**food…"**_ the thing hissed before going after Chopper. The little reindeer could only stare in horror as the Thing grew four very large claws before slashing them toward his body.

"Oh no, Chopper!" cried out Usopp, arm held out.

"Yahh!" Chopper cried out as he hid his head. A loud '_CHING_!' made him look up to see Zoro blocking the claws with one of his weights. The Thing managed to move its claws a little closer before Zoro shoved the monster away from the reindeer.

"Back…OFF!" Zoro roared as he went after the intruder, swinging the weight much like one of his swords. The thing seemed to pause as if it were re-thinking its decision about what it would eat.

"Zoro, Catch!" cried out Nami before hurling his weapons from across the ship.

"Dammit be careful with those!" he shouted back as he threw the weight at the creature before catching his katanas. The thing merely shifted its body to the side, letting the weight pass by to crash into the deck behind it.

Zoro quickly unsheathed his weapons and went after the thing. Changing its claws to form one very large blade on its right arm, the monster went after the swordsman. The monster didn't seem to feel the sword's blades as it used the blade to deflect many of the cuts.

Repeatedly Zoro tried to hurt the monster, hell even damaging its would be helpful about now, and each time the monster retaliated with its own powerful moves. As the two fighters clashed once more, Zoro had backup in the form of a roundhouse kick from Sanji. The blow managed to hit the monster's head and make it stumble back a bit. As soon as the two crewmates backed off, Nami came in swinging her bo staff while Franky raised his fists.

The monster recovered quickly and slammed its fists together. Both Nami and Franky had flown back in the resulting shockwave. As they flew back, many hands sprouted from the ground holding the creature in place. As it seemed to look at the hands, Usopp's bombs reached the monster.

Usopp cheered as his attack hit. "Bulls eye!" cried out Chopper, doing a little dance. The crew relaxed a bit before they saw that the monster still stood.

"N-no way!" stuttered Franky as the thing just moved its body similar to the pose of 'was that it?' Undeterred, the monster changed its blade into a smaller, darker version before slamming its fists into the deck.

The wood splintered making the hands turn into petals, as they were no match for the monster's powerful shockwave. It looked around before 'spotting' Robin across the deck. Shifting its body back, the monster's right arm coiled up before shooting straight towards the archeologist. However, before the arm reached her, Zoro once again blocked the bladed end from his nakama while Sanji went for another kick to the monster's head.

"Oh, tha-" As Brook began to speak, the bladed end of the monster's arm erupted with what looked like red and black colored worms. They wrapped around Zoro's arms before tightening up.

"What the?" he cried out as the arm retracted, pulling his body straight towards the monster who had held onto Sanji as it held the cook in front of its body like some sort of shield. The swordsman crashed into the cook, sending the two tumbling into the ship's side, making the ship rock.

"Chopper get to Zoro and Sa-!" cried out Nami before a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see the monster shifting its arm into the large blade from before. Fear filled Nami as the monster raised its arm before swinging it down toward her head.

"**HEY! THAT'S ENOUGH!"**

The sudden shout made the monster pause its attack, blade a few centimeters from cutting into Nami's head. Everyone's heads turned to see Luffy, arms crossed as he held a large piece of meat in his hands.

"Luffy!" came the resounding shout from the crew with Usopp, Franky, and Chopper were the most energetic with their greeting having tears of happiness streaming down their faces. The still conscious crewmembers watched their captain make his way across Sunny's deck. As he got closer, the monster shifted its arm out of its bladed form before settling its body into a defensive pose. Nami had regained her senses and managed to jump back as Luffy stood where the blade nearly split her in two.

The two stood in silence as the ship creaked with the sea's motion. Luffy then threw a punch into the monster's face.

"Stop it, you're not allowed to eat them!" he cried out as the monster's entire body shimmered in reds and black as it covered the fist, the monster's shoulders tilting with.. disappointment?

All of the Thousand Sunny's residents watched with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Brook's jaw had actually fallen out of its socket and down on the ground. As everyone's brains began to catch up with the current events, the monster let go of Luffy.

"Wha-Luffy do, do you know this…thing?" Usopp managed to croak out from behind the mast, Chopper peeking out from the other side.

"Hm, Thing? Hey, nobody has _just _called you a thing. Usually they go with monster, or skin stealer, hey didn't they call you a 'cannabin' back at the island" Luffy said with a slightly thoughtful expression on his face as he turned back to the monster. It shrugged.

"**THAT'S NOT THE POINT LUFFY!" **Nami shouted, punching Luffy's head, angry tic marks appearing on her face. Her reaction along with Luffy's strange connection to the monster made the crew form a wary semi-circle around the three of them.

"Why don't you introduce us to your friend, Captain?" Robin interrupted before Nami started hitting him again. Luffy's face split into a wide grin as he shoved his straw hat back onto his head.

"Oh yeah, everybody this" he said waving to the monster "is Alex. He's in armor form right now. Alex, this" he waved to everyone else "is my nakama. You _can_ fight them, only if they want to, but _**NO **_eating them okay?" Luffy then stood proudly between a very confused crew and the now dubbed Alex.

"Armor form?" asked a confused Franky, scratching his head with his index finger. If Alex was armored, it didn't look that super. Then again the armor did face off against Zoro's swordsman skills without a scratch to show from it.

"Alex?" asked an intrigued Robin. In her time with the Straw Hat pirates, this could be one of the odder thing that they've encountered in their search for the One Piece.

"E-Eat Us!" cried out a worried Chopper while Usopp and Brook began to freak out along with the reindeer. If 'Alex' became hungry, well they _were _on a ship with nowhere to go.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, Alex makes his skin super hard so that he can survive alotta things. One time, he fell into a trap that blew him up instead of his island and he survived that!" Behind the captain, the crew saw 'Alex' shaking its head.

While Chopper and Usopp were in the background, freaking out with the realization of this thing surviving an island explosion, everyone else just seemed surprised at the human reaction.

"So, if this is how he looks like in his armored form, does that mean he has a non-armored one too?" Brook wondered aloud.

Luffy grinned again. "Yeah he does, show them how you really look Alex!"

If Alex's face had any visible features, he would have rolled his eyes at Luffy's enthusiasm. Instead, the crew watched in awe as its body shifted between the gray covering to a swirling mass of red and black before settling onto a human form.

Alex wore a pair of black boots with blue pants and an unzipped black jacket over a grey sweater with a buttoned up white shirt underneath. He had his hood down and the crew could see the ice blue eyes contrasting against the darkened circles surrounding them. Alex scowled before moving his hands from his pockets to pull up his hood, shadowing his face and making Luffy laugh for some reason.

"So, he's a devil fruit user?" The crew turned to see that Zoro and Sanji had recovered from Alex's attacks and joined the group. Both had bruises covering their bodies but seemed otherwise okay with the fact that their captain knew a monster that had pretty much beaten them senseless.

"I think I've read about a devil fruit to harden your skin into diamonds, but not about one that is able to manipulate your form enough to create weapons from yourself," Robin mused quietly.

A sarcastic-sounding snort brought the attention back to Alex. "If it makes you feel better," he muttered, leaning against the railing "you can think that".

Nami frowned at him.

"Well, either you're a devil fruit user or you're not. There's no middle ground" she said, a steely tone to her words. Even if Luffy knew him, she wouldn't let her guard down around him, not after he nearly killed her.

"Aww, come on Alex. You can trust them, they're my nakama," Luffy said with a pout. The crew watched as Alex turned his head to stare at Luffy, who didn't stop pouting. A few moments later had Alex looking away first with Luffy smiling while his crew merely sweat-dropped at the bizarre exchange.

"Uhh, what was the-?" Brook began to ask.

"EVERYONE! It's time for a story!" cried out Luffy, grabbing onto Alex's arm as he began to run toward the kitchen. "Come on you can see the rest of Sunny while you tell them about Mountbatten!"

"It's _Manhattan _Luffy, not Mountbatten." Alex ground out as he let the straw-hat wearing captain pull him along. "What the hell would Mountbatten be anyway?"


End file.
